It was by no means the game — there was still a full half to play — but the final 27 seconds of the first half of Tuesday’s Miami-Toronto tilt pretty much summed up where the Heat are and where the Raptors would like to get.

The Raptors held a one-point lead on the Heat, having been up by as many as 11 earlier in the game. With about a nine-second differential on the shot clock and the game clock, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey wisely called a timeout.

The Raptors came out looking for a DeMar DeRozan drive out of the timeout, but the Heat simply refused to let them get into anything. DeRozan fumbled the basketball and the play ended predictably in an off-balance prayer three from DeRozan that had no prayer.

Then it got worse.

With about seven seconds to go, the Heat went down the court and, with one pass, had Mario Chalmers spotted wide open at the top of the arc for a three that gave the Heat a two-point lead heading into the locker room.

The home side never led again as the Heat came out in the second half and immediately stretched the lead to 10.

Toronto did tie the game at one point at 71 on a Rudy Gay drive, but Miami went on a 15-3 run and the Heat was back in control and on its way to a 104-95 win.

LeBron James did most of his damage in the first two quarters when he tallied the bulk of his game-high 35 points.

Dwyane Wade, who had just eight points in the first half added 12 more in the third quarter to get the Heat back that comfortable lead. He finished up with that same 20.

The Raptors did some good things early, but most of that came in the first quarter-and-a-half.

At the morning shootaround, head coach Dwane Casey told the assembled media: “We’re not going to out-talent them, but they’re not going to outwork us.”

He was right for about the first 18 minutes, but from that point on, the Heat had the better work ethic, not to mention the agreed-upon talent excess.

Casey pointed to the start of the fourth quarter, which the Raps entered down four points and managed to string together seven turnovers and a missed three-pointer from Terrence Ross over those first eight possessions.

The lead went from four to 14 in that span and the game was all but over.

“We gave our starters a blow and I thought they broke our back a bit there,” Casey said.

Casey defended his decision to go small in that fourth quarter, foregoing Amir Johnson for the duration and bringing Jonas Valanciunas in for the final four minutes.

“They had Ray Allen in the game and LeBron James was at the four,” Casey said. “They did the same thing we did.”

Johnson did play the entire third quarter, but his complete absence in the fourth had many wondering if he had been hurt.

As was the case in Milwaukee on Saturday, the Raps came out determined to get Valanciunas touches early in the game in the post. He responded with 10 big points in the first quarter on 4-of-7 shooting.

He worked hard for those points on the offensive boards, getting the Raptors three extra possessions in that first 12 minutes by himself.

Valanciunas wound up playing 28 minutes, or about 10 more than he had in either of the previous two games. He wound up with 18 points.

Offensively, Rudy Gay continues the search for his shot. He was good on just 3-of-10 shots on the night, but as he did in Milwaukee, he found other ways to contribute.

Gay got to the line seven times, converted six and followed up his career-high 15-rebound night in Wisconsin with 10 more on Tuesday.

None of that is going to make Gay or the Raptors fan base feel any better about things. Both know Gay is here to be a guy who can score in bunches. That’s not to downplay his efforts on the boards or his defence, but Gay knows he has to be an offensive force as well if this team is going to find its way into that seventh or eighth playoff spot.

DeRozan, who is not struggling offensively this year, had another 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting and looked particularly dialled-in through the early part of the third quarter.

But as soon as Toronto got back to within sniffing distance of the lead, the defensive chains went up again around the Miami paint and scoring for anyone in Raptors colours went from tough to near impossible.

The Raptors will not have a lot of time to dwell on this loss as they left Toronto immediately after the game and are back on the court in Charlotte to take on the Bobcats.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Dwane Casey sees the progress — he sees it in Jonas Valanciunas, he sees it in Landry Fields.

But he really needed to see it last night late in the fourth when the Raptors got to within six with two-and-a-half minutes to play.

Instead, he got a DeMar DeRozan miss from 17 feet and a Kyle Lowry miss from just outside the arc. The six-point deficit quickly became a 12-point hole.

“Our guys are battling, believe me,” Casey said. “We put ourselves in a position to beat the top team in the league. Now the next step for our team is to be able to bust through that and make those plays that we talked about. Are we there yet? We’re not there yet ... yet. I can see us getting better. I see improvement, but we have 78 more games to go. It’s a tough month. We have to fight through this month.”

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Raptors can't beat the Heat, fall 104-95

It was my no means the game — there was still a full half to play — but the final 27 seconds of the first half of Tuesday’s Miami-Toronto tilt pretty much summed up where the Heat are and where the Raptors would like to get.

The Raptors held a one-point lead on the Heat, having been up by as many as 11 earlier in the game. With about a nine-second differential on the shot clock and the game clock, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey wisely called a timeout.

The Raptors came out and the Heat simply refused to let them run the play they wanted, ending predictably in an off-balance prayer three from DeRozan that had no prayer.

Then it got worse.

With about seven seconds to go, the Heat went down the court and, with one pass, had Mario Chalmers spotted wide open at the top of the arc for a three that gave the Heat a two-point lead heading into the locker room.